The report drawn up by the WHO estimates that about 24% of diseases are caused by environmental factors. Environmental causes are considered to underlie more than 33% of the diseases contracted by children under 5.
The main pollutants are chemical pollution generated by heavy metals such as mercury, aluminium, lead, arsenic and cadmium, biological pollution and electromagnetic fields generated by antennas, mobile phones and wireless devices.
There are four main types of disease influenced by environmental factors:
Lower respiratory tract infections: due to air pollution, both outdoors and indoors
Diarrhoeal diseases: due to water contamination and poor hygiene and sanitation
Malaria: due to scarce water resources and inadequate domestic hygiene
Workplace accidents
To these are added road accidents, linked to inadequate urban planning; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, caused by exposure to dust and fumes in the workplace; and a number of perinatal problems.
A definition of environmental medicine
“Environmental medicine is a multidisciplinary branch of medicine that studies the influence of environmental factors on the onset of disease. The environment, besides being the source from which human beings obtain the oxygen, nutrients and water essential for life, as well as the place where social and working activity takes place, is also a potential cause or vector of disease, among which the following stand out: damage caused by radiation, effects of air pollution, intoxication, poisoning, cancers and infectious diseases.”
This is the definition of environmental medicine found on Wikipedia.
Environmental medicine, therefore, encompasses different disciplines: biomedical sciences, environmental sciences, legal, economic and social sciences, as well as construction and materials sciences.
Water quality; the effects of climate on health; pollution, the use of toxic substances and pesticides; epidemiology; the treatment of diseases and their prevention on an environmental basis. These are the main areas in which environmental medicine operates.
The pioneer of environmental medicine is considered to be the American allergist Theron G. Randolph, with his seminal text Human ecology and susceptibility to the chemical environment, published in 1962 and recently republished in the USA.
https://www.amazon.com/Human-Ecology-Susceptibility-Chemical-Environment/dp/1014036860
In Italy, the SIMA (Società Italiana Medicina Ambientale, the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine) was founded in Milan in 2015 and now has representatives in seven Italian regions, as well as in Belgium, Austria, Spain, the UK and the USA. SIMA is very active in scientific research on air and water quality, epidemiology and the costs of diseases caused by environmental exposure, the risks of radon and asbestos, and the primary prevention of cancer, especially in children.
The areas of prevention
The Società Italiana Medicina Ambientale (SIMA) has identified the main macro-areas on which to focus prevention work:
Air quality
Water quality
Food safety
Energy
The main actions proposed by environmental medicine range from the use of ‘cleaner’ fuels to better management of water resources, safer building construction, the promotion of hygiene measures in homes, and the reasoned and more closely controlled use of toxic substances in the workplace.
In 2016 SIMA created its own scientific validation mark, “SIMA VERIFIED”, which can be granted to companies, supply chains, processes and products that have voluntarily undergone scientific validation by highly authoritative third-party public or private bodies. Many Italian and international companies, including market-leading multinationals, have already decided to undergo scientific validation and have obtained the “SIMA VERIFIED” mark.
